AP's running totals are here. TPM's "scoreboard", which breaks down by race, but not by county, but does offer percentage of vote reported, is here. Some pre-election poll results for comparison are here.

* * *

1:32am CT: State Democrats now retract their previous charge of "election tampering" (as posted in the 11:54a update below). The full statement/retraction from WI Democratic Party chair Mike Tate, via TPM:

On Tuesday night, Wisconsin spoke loud and clear with the recall of two entrenched Republicans. This is an accomplishment of historic proportions that I do not wish to be overshadowed by statements regarding results in the 8th Senate District. Though we believe that Sandy Pasch was able to battle Alberta Darling to a virtual tie, on her turf, we will not pursue questions of irregularities. Those heat-of-the-moment statements came in light of the uncertainties that arose from a recent election, known too well.

Lame, Dems. You don't charge election tampering and evidence of fraud when you ain't got none. Want some? Try counting the actual ballots in Wisconsin rather than relying on oft-failed, easily-manipulated computers to do so. You might be amazed at what you find.

12:51a CT: AP is now calling it for Darling (R) over Pasch (D) in the 8th district, 39,471 to 34,096 (54% to 46%) with all but one counting unit in Milwaukee County reporting. That means if tonight's unverified results do not change, the Democrats failed to win enough seats for a takeover of the majority in the Wisconsin state Senate. Republicans are reported to have retained 4 of their seats tonight, while Democrats are said to have taken over 2 in today's unprecedented, historic recall elections.

Pasch has said (see 12:09a update below) she would not be conceding tonight and neither her nor the state Democratic Party would have any further comments for the evening, even in response to the Dems claims of "tampering" in Kathy Nickolaus' Waukesha County (see 11:54p update below).

(For "morning owls", I'll be on Nicole Sandler's Radio or Not Wednesday morning at 8:30am PT/10:30a CT. And for "afternoon owls", I'll be on my own show on KPFK/Pacifica 90.7FM here in Los Angeles at 3:30p PT/5:30p CT Wednesday. You can listen to that one live online here. I suspect we'll be talking about WI on all of the above.)

12:16a CT: As she told me she would (see 11:54p update below), Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus has just updated her results with the final counting unit now included. Her totals in Waukesha are now, Darling (R): 9,449 - Pasch (D): 4,767.

That last (previously) unreported counting unit was the largest of the 11 total in the 8th District section of Waukesha County. It was the Village of Menomonee Falls, Wards 14, 15 & 21. They report a total of 1,956 votes from the three wards making up that unit.

12:09a CT: 8th District Democratic candidate Sandy Pasch told supporters an hour or so ago that the race would be too close for her to call tonight. Her @SandyforSenate account just now tweeted: "Neither Sandy or the Democratic Party will issues any statements tonight. Thank you very much for your support tonight."

11:54p CT: I just spoke with Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus to ask her why there was one outstanding reporting unit still unreported (Village of Menomonee Falls, Wards 14, 15 & 21) in her posted results (reposted here [PDF]).

She told me: "They were absentee ballots, I just got it in, I'm just printing it. The municipal clerk just faxed it to me 5 minutes ago."

I asked why they were so late in coming, she said: "They were so busy they didn't get their absentee ballots done during the night, so they had to get them done after that."

Within the past hour, the WI Democratic Party issued a statement, accusing Nickolaus of "tampering" with the results. Here is their full statement:

Waukesha County Tampering

MADISON-Following is the statement of Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate following evidence of election tampering in the 8th State Senate District race.

"The race to determine control of the Wisconsin Senate has fallen in the hands of the Waukesha County clerk, who has already distinguished herself as incompetent, if not worse. She is once more tampering with the results of a consequential election and in the next hours we will determine our next course of action. For now, Wisconsin should know that a dark cloud hangs over these important results."

Tate offers no additional evidence to support his claim of "tampering".

At this hour, according to AP, based on computer-reported results, the Rs have held 3 seats, Ds have picked up 1, but the last, in state Senate District 8, is still too close to call. Here are their numbers at this hour (and prior to Nickolaus posting the last unreported unit in her county.):

11:10p CT: Computer results from 10 of 11 counting units in Waukesha County are now posted on Nickolaus' county website, though not yet updated at AP. We've got a copy here [PDF]. Those results flip the results (for the moment) from Pasch (D) who had been leading, to Darling (R) who now leads 52.3% to 47.7%, according to the computer-counted and unverified-by-humans results. The 2600 vote lead for the R would need to be made up for largely in Milwaukee now, which leans hard D and currently has 39 of 51 units reporting.

10:41p CT: Wow. AP calls District 18 for Democratic King over the incumbent Republican philanderer Sen. Randy Hopper. That means, Rs have 3, Ds have 2 with 1 out. If the Ds win, they take the Senate majority back. The last district out is District 8, containing Kathy Nickolaus' Waukesha County where, for some reason, just 1 of 11 counting units have reported more than 2 and a half hours since polls closed. She has reported all of 597 votes so far tonight.

10:27p CT: Why do I get a bad feeling that this is coming down to Waukesha County... Kathy Nickolaus' Waukesha County... Where 10 of 11 counting units are still not reporting. Only 1 has numbers in. Have I mentioned that Waukesha County is the only place in the state where Exit Polls got shut down by officials today...

10:10p CT: Ds get their first pickup, according to AP. Shilling unseats Kapanke in District 32, with Ds said leading in both of the two outstanding races. They need to win both to take the majority back from the Rs.

10:07p CT: Republican Olsen now called as "winner" by AP in 14th district, leaving 3 districts, all of which would need to be won by Ds for them to take the majority in the state Senate. The Ds currently lead in 2 and are neck-and-neck in 1. One of those districts where the Ds are up, the 8th, is in Milwaukee, but also in Kathy Nickolaus' Waukesha County where, for some reason, just 1 of 11 counting units are currently reporting. To recap, as of now, Rs win 3 out of 6 so far, according to the computer counts.

9:42p CT Update to previous note. Ds now leading in 3 of 4, according to AP's numbers. But many votes still out in 2 of those 3 districts.

9:36p CT - Remember, while most votes are cast on hand-marked paper ballots in WI, most of them are then counted by easily-manipulated, oft-failed optical-scan computers made by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia. Worse, there is no examination of those op-scan ballots whatsoever. Whatever the computer says the results are, will be the results, short of a "recount".

With that in mind, as of 9:30p CT, AP has "called" two races, in the 2nd and 10th Districts, for the Republican candidates, state Senators Cowles and Harsdorf respectively. Both of those victories, if they are accurate, were largely predicted/expected, according to pre-election polling.

In the four uncalled races at this hour, the Ds lead in two, the Rs lead in two. However, the Ds need three wins tonight to take the majority in the WI state Senate.

With 39% of the vote in in Milwaukee's 8th District, Democrat Pasch leads Republican Darling 56% to 44%

Republican Sen. Luther Olsen has lead in 14th District, but precincts not yet in from Dem Clark's hometown of Baraboo

As of 9:35 p.m., there were 88 of 119 precincts reporting in District 32. Jennifer Shilling (D) now has a 54-46 lead over incumbent Dan Kapanke (R-inc.). Still waiting on LaCrosse County, where Shilling had 55 percent of the vote with 4 of 21 precincts reporting, according to the LaCrosse Tribune.

If those leads and the reported lead of Shilling over Kapanke hold, Dems capture the needed three, but keep in mind that two Dems still face additional recalls.

Brad! According to TPM, D2 and D10 races have been called...what's strange is, at this time, TPM is reporting BOTH districts have the R candidate winning by the same exact percentage: 52% (R) to 48% (D)...

I realize it's still early (now only 10:00 WI time), and that these percentages are likely to shift before the "official results" are reported...

Adults. Be the Media! Everyone on this thread can spread this great reporting elsewhere on the web. We are extremely lucky to have the best election integrity reporter in Brad Friedman doing this work. Let's help spread this throughout the progressive blogosphere where we also visit.

State Dem chair Mike Tate claims "tampering" in Waukesha vote count reports that put Darling (R) over the top. This is the same county and clerk who generated such controversy in the recent Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. And she does seem to have some very archaic methods of reporting votes. But I have yet to see any evidence of irregularities tonight. The state party says in a press release that "in the next hours we will determine our next course of action."

D14 called - Olsen 58% - Clark - 42%?....So 3 R victories in 3 differebt districts...all with the same vote split?! Yes, I realize that the Cowles / Nusbaum D2 race is now at 60 / 40, but it HELD at 58 - 42 for quite some time before this last flood of votes for Olsen...

Why do I get the impression that the last unreported Waukesha County precinct won't be reported until AFTER the last Milwaukee county precincts report. Current AP percentages show Darling leading by 6%. Just enoough to avoid an automatic recount.

This is by no means scientific, because I don't know the actual vote in each remaining precincts. But if you average the per precinct vote for the three counties in which precincts have yet to be counted and use the identical percentages, Darling ends up with 34,604 and Pasch with 34,474.

AWww.. Ernest, you ROCK! I was just coming here to post that exact link! Thanks, buddy!

Can you believe the following quote from DPW Graeme Zielinski, DPW spokesperson?!?: "Our models, our returns, our results show us ahead in this important election...and we believe that Kathy Nicholaus...who has shown gross incompetence and maybe more, is at it again. We'll see what transpires...right now it is our belief that the election that will determine the control the of the WI senate is being tampered with."

With such a nail biter why has MSNBC pulled live coverage? Especially with official allegations of tampering and the balance of power hanging in balance? Maddow sent home, Schultz absent, O'Donnell in rebroadcast.

Crawl graphics saying 'Breaking News' are way behind live reports of Darling lead, controversy, in holding mode limbo on Pasch race in 8th district where reporting is late. Wait they just called it for Darling - timestamped vs. Realtime with major lag.

Between the results at the 68% mark and the 80% mark, it appears that the Reps would have had to get over 75% of the vote to make the 4 point gain they made. Not one of the district 8 precincts, even the most conservative, reports that kind of margin. How is this possible?

Supporting numbers:

At 68% of the precincts:
51% is 34.68% of the total vote
49% is 33.32% of the total vote

At 80% of the precincts:
47% is 37.6% of the total vote
53% is 42.4% of the total vote

The Reps had to get 9.08% increase.
The Dems had to get 2.92% increase.
Thus the Reps had to get 76% and the Dems 24% of the added 12% reporting.

Mysterious: as public waited for updates on 8th, Weekly Standard's John McCormack cited a 'GOP Source' reporting a significant Darling lead with 98%of results in.

Then, 40 minutes later, McCormack reported a Darling lead with 96% in, suggesting his source had reporting data prior to the press and public.

The networks took the night off - it was ThinkProgress who reported there would be a one hour delay in the reporting of the 8th. Brad is the only one reporting the outrageous "faxed absentee ballots" coming in so late.

And all this in the exact same district that fouled up the Prosser results, finding ballots two days late to reverse the outcome. Remember WI Rep Tammy Baldwin asked the DOJ to look at that result and we are right back here?

It's late, I'm exhausted, and not great with the numbers in the first place, but if I understand your explanation of those numbers, with Rs getting 76% and Dems 24% from Kathy Nickolaus' Waukesha results (when she finally reported most of the rest of her county totals), that's is just about equal to the R v. D ration in Waukesha in past elections.

I haven't specifically compared tonight's numbers to the state Supreme Court numbers from April for those specific counting units yet, but the numbers in the case you point to may not be as remarkable as they seem.

Of course, that presumes I remember correct and, more importantly, presumes one can trust the numbers from the Supreme Court race (which one shouldn't --- but there are past elections that can be compared to as well...for someone less tired than me tonight.)

I went to HULU and found a very interesting film about Harry Nilsson to take my mind off things but, of course, my expensive American internet broadband connection is VERY SLOW, so I've been able to comment on our blog and yours.

John Lennon described Harry as his favorite band. Harry was very proud of that.

We don't know what happened in Waukesha or anywhere else. We can't in the current system. The trend of late votes ceretainly went against the previous numbers coming in from the same district and who knows about those "faxed" ballots. I've just come to assume about a 5% marging of theft possible in any of these Republican counted races, although Dems may not be immune.

There's a reason exit polls are blocked. Until 2000 and the widespread use of electronic voting machines, Exit polls consistently tracked within 1% of actual vote totals. Beginning in 2000, exit polls showed a 4-8% variance from the election results, ALWAYS favoring Republican candidates. So, if you want to manipulate the vote total with no one the wiser, you MUST stop exit polling altogether for the election fraud to stand.

I spent the day as an observer at precinct 4, wards 5,6 and 13 in Menonomee Falls. Everything was done 'by the book'. No problems at all. (Although I have no explanation for why it took Nickalous so long to report them) the numbers reported in the media were exactly what was printed out from the ballot tabulator right there at the precinct. The chief inspector printed extra copies for observers, including one that I took home with me.

(And Sandy Pasch did about 100 votes better in the precinct than Tom Barrett did against Walker in 2010. Walker won the precinct 849-474, Darling only beat Pasch yesterday 725-463.)

If we assume that Waukesha is the source of fraud, based on Repugs losing elsewhere, then a key stat would be turn out percentage (because it is already a Republican district, she would need to create phantom voters to have enough votes to swing the larger total). If poll books are kept, then manufacturing fake absentee ballots would be the way to go. Thus the "wait" for the count of the "faxed" absentee "ballots".

"If poll books are kept, then manufacturing fake absentee ballots would be the way to go. Thus the "wait" for the count of the "faxed" absentee "ballots"."

Firstly, it isn't the ballots themselves that are 'faxed', it is only the tabulator result totals that are faxed.

Poll books are kept. Absentees are processed at the individual polling places, by the poll workers, with the absentees being fed into the vote tabulating machines just like any other ballot, which means they are included in the tabulator tapes printed and signed at the polling place by the poll workers. The polling place I was observing, for example, processed 192 absentees (with one additional rejected for a missing signature).

So to "manufacture" fake absentee ballots 'after the fact', in addition to creating the ballots, you'd have to create matching absentee envelopes, with fake post marks, and fake voter signatures, and somehow fake the tabulator tapes with new totals even though the original tape has to have signatures from the poll workers on the tape itself. Dozens of people would have to be "in on it".

AND the whole thing would be blown if an observer (like me) shows up and asks for a copy of the tabulator tape to be printed right then and there. There's no way for Kathy Nickolaus to mess with the totals when I had a copy of the tabulator tape (hours, apparently) before she did.

Nirtana Goodman got some INCREDIBLE video of Kevin Kennedy getting kicked off the sidewalk by a policeman as she was filming an interview with him in Butler Village, inquiring about the citizen exit pollsters being kicked off the sidewalk:

(Brad, I think you have a minor error at the 9:36 (CT) time-stamped update: "With that in mind, as of 9:30p CT, AP has "called" two races, in the 8th and 10th Districts, for the Republican candidates, state Senators Cowles and Harsdorf respectively...." I think you mean in the 2nd and 10th districts.)

All our FB groups are now combing through their notes from yesterday, working through the reported math. We have lots of interesting posts flying around; nothing confirmed at this time. Since many of us here are doing the same number crunching, I'm posting our most relevant info below for discussion / Bradblogian analysis:

One smart lady cites the same stats that our own GWN outlined above - with a bit more explanation:

...Between 11.59 p.m. and 12:20 a.m. an additional 12% of precincts were added. That brought the voters up to 58,160 total. YET, 12% of 58,160 should be 6,979.2 additional votes BUT it is twice that amount, 12, 996 voter increase. That is not logical!...

District 8: 67% reporting at 11:59:33 p.m.

Alberta Darling: 21,713/ 48%
Sandra Pasch: 23,4521/ 52%
District 8: 79% reporting at 12:20:44 a.m.
Alberta Darling: 30,394/ 52%
...Sandra Pasch: 27,766/ 48%
Darling had an increase of 8,681 and Pasch had an increase of 4,315 votes=12.996 votes (6,0168 more votes than what is possible with just a 12% addition of voters (editors note: this should read precincts))

12% of the total 58,160 (at point in time) would have been only a possible 6,979.2 votes.

Um, Dems better look into what is going on in district 8! MSNBC "With 62% of the vote in the dem had a 52/48 advantage, then, with 63% in the dem had a 51/49 advantage, THEN with a 64% of the votes in the republican had a 51/49 advantage. THAT CANNOT BE! A 1% swing cannot suddenly give the republican 3% points IF previously a 1% swing took away only ONE % point from the democratic challenger.

THIS is the "smoking gun" Louise - that should be investigated by the Dems TODAY. It's PROOF Nicholas sat on democratic votes. Someone needs to get a copy of the MSNBC tape and look at what I was looking at. Again, if a 1% swing at 10pm means 1,000 votes, then, 1% swing at 11pm CANNOT mean 4,000 votes!!!"

From one of our most active and reliable members, the lead Kloppenburg Volunteer in Waukesha Co recount:

"KN, and Waukesha County, were not the problems in this election. Washington and Ozaukee counties were. Here's the proof:

In Waukesha Cty, 69.4% of Wasserman's '08 voters turned out for Pasch, 78.4% of Darling's '08 voters returned (a 9 point difference).
In Washington Cty, 61% of Wasserman's '08 voters turned out for Pasch, 77.1% of Darling's '08 returned (a 16.1% difference)!
In Ozaukee Cty, 67.6% of Wasserman's '08 voters turned out for Pasch, 84.1% of Darling's voters '08 returned (a 16.5% difference)!

What happened to the Dems in Washington County? In Ozaukee County? These questions MUST BE ANSWERED."

I spent the day as an observer at precinct 4, wards 5,6 and 13 in Menonomee Falls. Everything was done 'by the book'. No problems at all. (Although I have no explanation for why it took Nickalous so long to report them) the numbers reported in the media were exactly what was printed out from the ballot tabulator right there at the precinct. The chief inspector printed extra copies for observers, including one that I took home with me.

Really appreciate that you were there on the ground and paying such close attention. Thanks for your report! That's good to hear, at least in regard to those wards you were able to be at, and at least as far as the chain of custody from precinct machine reported numbers to reported results on the web.

Wish there was some way that we could know the machine reported numbers were actually accurate, however.

Yeah Larry, I like the part where Harry Nillson is egging on John Lennon, feeding him brandy and milk, and they were both heckling the Smnother's Brothers, and eventually they both got physically thrown out of the place. Hey let's go do that to Jeannie Dean (just kidding). That was on Netflix a while back. "Who is Harry Nillson (and why is everyone talkin' about him)" or something like that. We all need some relief from this neverending election turd that keeps being dumped on us from WI.

I loved "Nilsson Schmilsson", but I think Harry was uncomfortable with being portrayed only in a good light and decided to play a sort of bad guy in "Son of Schmilsson", I have to say that I loved both albums and found the second one to be hilarious.

It's no wonder that he got along so well with the Beatles. I think it's great that he got calls from both Paul and John praising him and then formed a long lasting relationship with Ringo too. What a great story!

I am a HUGE Smother Bros' fan, even tho' Dicky became sort of a Dicky in recent years. Weird, Hooten, I DREAMED about them last night before I read your post here, today! Wow. We're synched!

You guys can heckle me anytime! I doubt you could do any worse than the trolls we get here, heckling Brad...

...and having cut my teeth on 'em in Florida (a whole state of hecklers) I am more than up to the task. Plus I know how to do a good face-plant without breaking my nose. (Vaudeville trained in Texas...)

Actually you are 100% wrong on that. In November 2010 Democrats controlled both houses and the Governor in Wisconsin. Republicans took away a clean sweep based in part on the platform they enacted (reforming public employee unions power) which led to this mess. The results you saw yesterday confirms that the citizens were serious, despite the scores of thousands of bussed in union protesters.

I'm sure you can find more if you look. I'm not wasting any more time.

I don't blame you. Because the two articles you pointed to refer to a comment Walker made before his election about cutting "benefits". As I'd like to think you know (though your party chair and folks on Fox lie to you about this all the time), the dispute in WI was not about "benefits". The unions had agreed, almost immediately, to meet Walker's demands for cuts to their pension and health benefits. The dispute was about big government stripping away the citizen's rights to collectively bargain.

I'll repeat, in case you really are confused or unaware of this: The unions agreed to Walker's demands on benefits. They didn't agree to give up their right to collectively bargain as Walker's legislation requires and as Walker said absolutely nothing about during the campaign.

Clear now?

(BTW, those cuts in benefits and the stripping of collectively bargaining rights applied only to the non-firefighter and non-police unions, as those two unions endorsed Walker. So apparently their "benefits" didn't need to be cut to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, as Walker also did despite the state's "budget emergency" that he declared.)

"UPDATE: The Outagamie County clerks office confirmed that their spreadsheet was off and the results as fixed below are correct. Cowles won the county with 54 percent of the vote, not 69 percent.

---
There appears to be an inaccuracy in Outagamie County election results that makes the race between Republican Sen. Rob Cowles and Democratic challenger Nancy Nusbaum closer than first reported.

According to the unofficial tally, Nusbaum received no votes in four Kaukauna precincts. That in itself is an anomaly. Add in that 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Barrett won all four of those precincts quite handily and it’s a sure head scratcher..."

I think it is pretty clear to anyone sane that at least 2 of these races were blatantly stolen.
But as we all know a blatantly stolen race is just as good as a legal landslide win because democrats will never stand up and fight.

So, instead of conceding that you were wrong (again) in this "civil discussion" you simply toss out condescending and dismissive snark at a different commenter?

I suspect we'd all be more impressed if you simply said, "Thanks guys! Looks like I had my facts wrong, had been misinformed by the folks I had put my trust in, and now that you've helped educate me, I retract my inaccurate statement that Republicans had run on the plan they have since jammed down the throats of Wisconsinites."

Ha! "Civil discussion with Brad?" Good luck with that WNut, as the civility tends to be one-sided and completely extended on Brad's part.
So...give it your best shot! You're WAY behind.

It's okay, Brad. No offense taken. While typically self-serving and self-absorbed, that crack from Wing Nut was almost cute. Well, comparatively speaking, it's about as cute as he gets. Still, he doesn't get to hijack our open thread about far more important matters...

(Hush, WN, this thread isn't about you.)

Brad, listening for you now on local CA radio affiliate on the ED SHOW! YIPpPPPPEeeEEE! You're up on my link in about 20 minutes. Thrilled you're on air all day yesterday and today...

Two, have you had a chance to review that article I posted above re: OUTGAMIE...seems there's another "missing column" issue. And if I understand this correctly, Nusbaum received only 4 votes in De Pere, considered a pro-Nusbaum district as she had been their former mayor.

De Pere is also at the link I posted above on Tuesday re: long lines and 45 minute waits...

Just wanted to highlight that as we learn more about what happened in District 2. Looks like Cowles did not win by the margin the official results would indicate. In fact, Cowles won by 15% less of a margin that originally reported on election night, according to Outgamie Co. Clerks.

Noting: The D2 Cowles / Nusbaum race was the first one called, with the same 48% to 52% spread (Cowles) called in D10 simultaneously (Harsdorf). D2 held at 48%-52% until much later in the evening when it shifted dramatically to 60%-40% (Cowles). D10 stayed at 48% - 52% for as long as I was watching the numbers. (approx 3:00 am PT)

Then, as reported above by GWN, around midnight the Darling / Pasch D8 vote spread comes in at the SAME PERCENTAGE: 48% / 52% (favoring Pasch) ...by 12:20 we see the same vote spread but now in favor of Darling.

Brad @ 76: my comment was meant to be a bit sarcastic and in a joking manner. Jeannie (sort of) got it (I think). At any rate it's a bit silly for you to use the words "condescending" and "dismissive snark" towards me, a faithful albeit non-goose stepping to your drumbeat, reader of this blog. I have never "snarked" and I take great pride in that fact. And your comments towards me typically ooze snarky condescension. No, Fox news did not tell me to say that.

Having said that, I cannot find any link to an article which references Walkers desire (before the election) to take away collective bargaining from public employees so I'll give you a touche on that one. The folks I put my trust in did not tell me to say that.

I do believe that the Wisconsin government got it correct with respect to collective bargaining for public employees. Sean Hannity told me to say that, old habits die hard.

Hey, fellow Bradblog-ians (save WNut) can you get over to the above link and leave a comment? Seems someone by the name of "Frank" has already come out swinging oo this astute young person's blog responding with (WNut-ian) bullshit...

Barbara With and I have already posted to refute, could use some more comments to flash-mob "Frank's" mis (dis?) info. Thanks in advance!

Okay! Sorry to "flame" the thread ala WN (tho' my info is REAL and far less self-serving) - we just received this post at the FB main page from E.I. veteran / publisher Diana Finch, thought it should be posted here for The Brad Blog record:

"I get the RNC email newsletter to keep tabs on what they are saying, and here's what they are saying about Wisconsin in the email I just received.
I wonder in particular what they mean by 'funded a voter ID program' and 'funded the absentee ballot program.'

From the email:

. . . . . Because of your support of the RNC, Diana, we were able to help the Wisconsin Party's grassroots efforts and provide strategic resources to keep our majority in the state senate.

We provided staff on the ground;
Funded a voter ID program;
Worked with the Wisconsin Party on contact lists and a Get-Out-The-Vote plan;
Provided Get-Out-The-Vote technology and equipment to the state party; and,
Funded the absentee ballot program.

. . . . . .

Sincerely,

Reince Priebus
Chairman, Republican National Committee

P.S. Diana, in 2008 Obama carried each of the six Wisconsin senate districts that they targeted for recall. After these districts went Republican last fall, the Obama Democrats went all in these races, outspent our side 2 to 1 and still failed. Wisconsin, once a solid blue state, is now red. . . . .

*****

What the hell is their "absentee ballot program"? What, exactly, was "funded"? That GOTV effort seems like it could be the same technology Brad outlined in his expose. Could this link the RNC to the AfP?

The problem was neither "snark" nor "condescension". It was evasion. Distracting from the original "civil discussion" in which you asserted false information, I told you as much, but then you failed to acknowledge, and instead, chose a distraction.

Having said that, I cannot find any link to an article which references Walkers desire (before the election) to take away collective bargaining from public employees so I'll give you a touche on that one.

And therein lies the entire battle in WI. Had Walker done what he'd said he would do, we wouldn't have this mess up there. But he didn't. He did something far beyond what he had campaigned on, then proceeded to lie about it by claiming he campaigned on it (for which he was called out by Politifact, btw.)

So your original comment above which started this discussion, where you charged that another commenter was "100% wrong" (and which contains another dishonest GOP charge, concerning "thousands of bussed in union protesters"), and your subsequent support of that original claim was, in truth, 100% wrong.

No "touches" needed. Not here for extra credit. I'm here to try and help inform a grotesquely (and purposely) misinformed nation.

That you were misled on these FACTS by your party is no mistake. Your party is very purposely doing all that it can to deceive you. On the day of the election, GOP Chair (and former WISCONSIN party chair, so he certainly knows better), ended what started with a big lie, by issuing another big lie on air when he said:

PRIEBUS: You have a leader in Scott Walker who asked state employees to pay just a little bit more in pension and healthcare benefits, which was about half of what the rest of the state pays in those benefits. And that’s all he did. Now, in reaction to that, the public employee unions took $25 million, they put together a petition drive, and now they’re dumping millions of dollars on television trying to recall the senators for trying to balance a state budget.

Do you support that kind of shit? That's an absolutely blatant lie (a series of them, actually) from the head of your party! Doesn't the nation, and your party, deserve better than to be blatantly lied to that way? (No matter what you may feel about Walker and what he is doing in WI?)

So shouldn't you be spending half as much time trying to correct your own party on their lies as you are spending here trying to incorrectly "correct" me when I tell the truth?!